This invention relates generally to toilet seat installations and in particular to improvements over the installation disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,046.
Conventional toilet seats hinged to a toilet bowl are supported in their lowered positions on the rim of the toilet bowl by at least two impact absorbing bumpers secured to the underside of the toilet seat. Such bumpers are not effective, however, to prevent horizontal shift of the toilet seat under load from its position in alignment with the toilet bowl opening. One method of preventing such shift according to my prior U.S. patent aforementioned, is to provide a special toilet seat configuration having a lip portion contoured to fit inside of the opening rim. Another method of preventing shift disclosed in my prior patent, involves use of special bumpers, rcplacing the conventional bumpers on the underside of a conventional type of toilet seat. The contoured lip portion in such case is provided on the bumpers.
A serious drawback in the use of the aforementioned special bumpers, resides in the misalignment that often occurs when installing the toilet seat assembly. Because of unavoidable variations in alignment between toilet seat and bowl rim for different toilet bowl configurations and/or installations, no precision mounting of the special bumpers on the toilet seat could accommodate all variations. Accordingly, the bumpers often are not properly seated on the rim of the toilet bowl so as to defeat the non-shift prevention purpose. No such bumper seating problem is, of course, associated with conventional bumpers.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a toilet seat assembly of economical cost and easy installation for commercial and/or residential use, wherein special impact absorbing bumpers are utilized to prevent horizontal shift without the installational misalignment and seating problems aforementioned.